Chapter 2:
They reached the train station in a hurry, and there was already peacekeepers at the train doors. They stepped aside and allowed them to pass. As the doors closed behind them the engine started, and soon they started to move, within a few minutes the town was out of sight. No words had been spoken on the way back. This left Katniss agitated, she needed to know what was going on.
They went into the dining car, Haymitch headed straight to the liquor cabinet, and before anyone could stop him he had taken two big chugs of a blank bottle which contained some turbid fluid.
Peeta sat down on the couch, once he had settled in he looked up at Haymitch expectantly. Effie stood by the door, she looked undecided. Finally she too went further into the room.
Katniss moved over to stand to the right of Peeta, she did not feel like sitting. Her eyes was still trained at Haymitch. He looked back at them, but made no motion to speak.
"I think it is time to go to bed." Effie said, but without any real conviction. She fussed with her hair, and kept changing facial expression. It had started to rain outside, the wind made a loud tapping noise as it hit the windows.
Katniss sent her a glare. She would not move until someone told her something.
"The lady is right." Haymitch said. He was not looking at them anymore, instead his eyes were fixed on Effie.
"No. You will-" Katniss started.
"I will do nothing, this is on you." He said and stabbed a finger in their direction, his voice harsh. He stalked out of the room, and took the bottle with him. Katniss moved to follow but was held back by a hand around her wrist. She looked down, ready to fight.
Peeta met her gaze, his eyes sad. He shook his head, then let go of her hand gently. Katniss touched her wrist absentmindedly, his fingers had always been so warm.
"Good night, do not stay up too late. We have a long day ahead of us." Effie smiled at them, to Katniss it appeared more like a grimace. She left them alone.
"Why did you stop me?" Katniss hissed at Peeta.
"He knows what's best for us. I'm sure he has his reasons." Peeta looked at the floor, he spoke with little emotion. His shoulders were hunched up, and his feet were placed close together. He sounded very little like the Peeta she knew.
"That's not true," she said, this was something that had been on her mind ever since they left the arena. She moved around him, and sat down beside him.
Peeta moved his body to face her. He did not speak.
"He did what was best for me, he tried to get me out alive." She stressed the word me. She looked at him with fervour, she needed him to understand this. "He left you to die," she said, her voice soft.
Peeta sat still, then a sad smile materialized on his lips. She felt shivers go down her back; whenever he had that smile, something bad was sure to follow.
"You had the better chance. If he had chosen me we would both be dead." His eyes were tired, he looked terrible.
"That still didn't give him any right." Her voice had started to rise.
"It did. We were dead Katniss." His lips still turned upward making the smile ever more pronounced, that damn smile. "He made us survive."
She stormed away after that, unwilling to look at him anymore.
The corridor was dark as she moved, most of the lights were turned off.
"The capitol is always watching. Meet me outside at eight tomorrow." Katniss heard from the shadows. She had almost missed it, angry thoughts clouded her mind. It had been Haymitch's voice. She didn't respond and just walked on. Finally, she would get some answers.
She did not sleep at all that night, the day's events kept her awake. She spent most of the time gazing out the window. She thought of Prim and her mother, who must have seen everything. What would they think, would they blame her for the man's death? Prim would not, Katniss knew, she hoped the same for her mother. Could her actions today come back to haunt them? She did not know, her stomach churned at the thought.
The train reached district ten in the middle of the night, this made the rest of the night much harder for her. She no longer had any distractions.
At seven thirty she left her compartment and moved outside. There was two peacekeepers who stood guard at the doors, she did not recognize them, and they were not the same ones that had been there the day before. They moved out of the way and allowed her to pass.
The second the doors opened the wind hit her hard. She looked around, there was no town in sight, and the landscape was desolate. She could spot the electric fence in the distance.
Footsteps caused her to twist around, she had not moved from the doorway. It was Peeta, his limp was more noticeable today, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"Hey." She said. He greeted her back. Then together they moved out of the train. They didn't have any specific plan, so they wandered around in silence. They had seen the back of the train twice when Peeta spoke up.
"Why don't we sit down here, Haymitch should be able to spot us easily from the train."
"Sure."
They sat down on the ground, the asphalt was cold. Katniss did not mind, in a twisted sense it reminded her of all the hours she had spent lying in wait whilst hunting, hoping that the animals would come to her.
They were seated in front of the train, and faced away from it. They sat in silence, neither of them in the mood to talk about the night before.
"Say, what's your favourite colour?" Peeta asked. The silence had lasted so long that Katniss almost forgot that he was there. The question had come out of nowhere, and Katniss looked over at him in surprise.
"Why?"
"We are supposed to be a couple. We should know things about each other." He answered.
"Green,-" And after a slight pause, "-yours?"
"Orange; like the sunset." It suited him.
"You're a little rusty," a voice said. Katniss was startled. She jumped up, ready to defend herself.
"Follow me," Haymitch said. He stood a few feet away from them. He walked away from the train, towards the electric fence. They followed close behind, her a little ahead of Peeta. Katniss could not resist throwing glances over her shoulder, she felt that this meeting needed to be private.
They walked for two minutes, far enough from the train to ensure a private conversation, but not far enough to lose it from sight. Haymitch turned around abruptly, and stared at them with a serious expression on his face.
Katniss was cold, her body was reacting to the situation, something big was going on, and she was about to find out what.
"After last year's hunger games," Haymitch said. "The relationship between the capitol and some of the outer districts got-" he hesitated "-heated." He made a grimace.
"For the first time in over a decade there was a district wide riot. The capitol responded, and shut down the entire district; countless people were executed."
Katniss felt numb, her hands were cold, right then if anyone pushed her, she would fall. There was a lot of hate towards the capitol, she had seen it, but she rarely heard anyone act on it. For an entire district to do so; there would be consequences for everyone.
"What district was this?" Peeta asked.
Haymitch hesitated.
"It was district eleven wasn't it?" She looked at Peeta, she could see that his jaw was set, he stared intently at Haymitch.
Her head snapped towards Haymitch, the answer was all over his face.
Haymitch gave a curt nod.
"How could you!" Peeta shouted. "You knew what I would say, you let me walk right into it."
"Keep your voice down." Haymitch looked from side to side, to see if anyone had heard Peeta's outburst.
"Your words, in the building and on the train. You said it was on us. You allowed us to believe…" Peeta broke off, he was not shouting, but his voice was far from calm. His hands had morphed into tight fists.
"No one made you say the words. You decided to say them, don't blame me because shit didn't turn out as you wanted." Haymitch snapped back.
"There's something more going on isn't there?" Katniss asked. At his slight nod she continued, "and you are part of it." She paused, "and now, so are we."
Her voice was unemotional, her face was blank, but her heart was thumping hard and fast in her chest. It had begun. Haymitch ran a hand over his face, then said, "You were always part of it, whether you wanted to or not."
She looked at Peeta. "It was all part of their plan, to show us off. To show people that the capitol had not changed us." His head had dropped, and his normally vibrant eyes dull.
"You are important. More so than you know." Haymitch said and looked between Peeta and her.
"What do we need to do?" Katniss asked, eager, she had waited for this moment for years. It was a chance to strike back.
"Nothing for now, your show was enough." He paused, "I'm tired of saying it, but for now, you just have to stay alive." He moved closer to them.
"That means no arbitrary acts of courage, you have to regain the love of the capitol, while keeping the trust of the districts. You have to be the star-crossed lovers they came to adore, you have to be perfect." He spoke quickly, in a hushed whisper.
He stared at Peeta, "from now on, you will use the speeches from the capitol."
Peeta nodded, his hands were still balled into fists, and she could see that his knuckles were white from lack of blood circulation.
"And you, just stand still and look pretty." Haymitch said and laughed, "that's all you have to do." The conversation was over, she could see Effie in the distance. They walked towards her.
"What were you doing out there?" She asked when they got close enough for them to hear.
"I was out of liquor, I made them come. It's time for them to start, don't you think?" Haymitch grinned at her.
Katniss could see Effie's lips tighten and her eyes narrow, and saw her open her mouth to answer.
Katniss did not hear Effie's response. Her mind was still on the matter ahead, she wondered if Gale knew. She knew he would be excited, just like her, he had waited his entire life for this. Then she thought of Peeta, kind hearted Peeta. She looked over at him, he spoke with Effie, and he smiled and laughed. She needed him, he was so much better at this than she was.
They followed Haymitch's advice, and for district ten and nine it worked perfectly. Peeta spoke, and she stood still like a doll, and looked pretty. Sometimes she also said some words, but Peeta was a much better speaker than she was, the words got another dimension when he used them.
They arrived at district eight late at night, Effie had already gone to bed when the train started to slow down.
She sat with Peeta in the dining car, they sat opposite each other on the couch. They had spent the last few hours alternating between asking and answering questions about themselves. It had been Peeta's idea, and it was a good one. This was the easy part so they had to get this one right.
"What was the first thing you did when you got home?" Peeta asked.
Katniss looked at him sharply, this was not part of the deal. "I thought we were only going to ask couple questions?"
"You need to be able to answer anything, with capitol answers."
He was right, there were going to be other questions as well, not just about them as a couple.
"I don't want to tell them." She told him honestly. She had hugged Prim, and then gone to sleep. It was a rather uneventful evening, but it had been private. She did not want the capitol to know more about Prim than they already did.
"Then lie, but you have to tell a good one."
She could feel her head ache and her legs had started to grow restless. They had been on this for several hours already. This was so easy for Peeta, she wondered how he had become so good at lying.
Effie came into the room, she was carrying a stack of paper. "Your speeches." She said and handed them over.
Katniss scanned her speech, it was similar to the others, with a lot of talk about honour and pride, and how thankful they were to the capitol. She could feel her headache grow worse, she needed a break. She looked at Peeta, who still stared at it.
Peeta dropped the speech, the paper floated slowly towards the ground, his face had gone pale, and his eyes were wide open.
She grabbed at the letter, but she was too far away. Peeta snatched it first and folded it neatly. Then he smiled at her, and walked off. The skin around his eyes did not move.
She called after him, but he did not turn back.
Katniss spent most of her nights awake, whenever she fell asleep she would have nightmares. She had not had one quiet night of sleep since the victory tour began, and she was not the only one. Peeta and Haymitch often appeared with bloodshot eyes in the morning, though for Haymitch it might be the liquor.
This night was not an exception, the clock had just passed two and she did not feel tired at all. She listened for movements elsewhere in the train, and tried extra hard to hear what Peeta was doing. Sometimes she could hear muffled sounds in the middle of the night; she was curious as to their origin, but felt uncomfortable asking.
Katniss opened the door to the hallway slowly, to make as little noise as possible. She stepped out from her room, and walked quietly to the dining car. She felt claustrophobic, she had spent so much time in her own room. The door between the two cars was already open, which was surprising as she had been the last person to go to bed, and she distinctly remembered that she had closed it.
The answer came to her in the form of Peeta, who sat at his usual spot by the table. They had not discussed this, but by some unspoken rule the four of them always sat at the same spots. He was hunched over a piece of paper. She knew, even without seeing it up close, that it was the speech. She could see that his shoulders were drawn up, it almost made him look like he had no neck, and his arms were pressed close to his body.
She marched over to him, and had almost reached the couch when Peeta looked up. She snatched the paper from his hands. He lunged for it, but she had already moved away. She held behind her, out of his reach.
"What is it?"
"Give it back." He stood up.
"Not until you tell me what's going on." She glared at him.
They stood there for a moment, and assessed each other, then Peeta sat down heavily and sighed.
"Okay, you win. I will tell you, "he said, his voice tired.
She moved over to the couch and sat down beside him, still keeping the speech out of his reach, she folded her right leg under her body, allowing her to face him comfortably.
"Do you remember, back in the Hunger games, the girl from district eight?" He asked, but continued before she could answer.
"I met her, in the arena. I was still with the careers at the time; things went pretty much as you would expect."
She winced, the careers were known for their brutality.
"They didn't kill her." He said, and she sat up straighter. "No, they left that job to me," he smiled at her, it was a bitter, twisted smile and it scared her. "I'm a murderer."
"No," she shook her head, "you are the only one of us that is not." She grabbed his hand, and held it between her two. "I saw it, on television afterwards. You didn't kill her, the careers did;-"he turned away, she clenched his hand hard, "-you saved her from suffering."
She gestured at the speech, "What does it say?" she asked softly, she had left it on the table when she grabbed his hand. He picked it up with his other hand; he made no move to remove the other one.
He took a deep breath and started to read, "I am very happy to have won the Hunger games. Most of all to come and see you and your beautiful district. I have to especially commend you on the clothing, I am sure most of my suits originated from within this district.
"The two tributes from district eight fought like real champions, which is why it was such a shame that they left us so early. "
"Stop, that's horrible,-" Katniss said, she felt vomit at the back of her throat. "-you can't say that; they will hate you."
"I know." He said, and sighed. "Do they really need me though?" The question caused Katniss to stop for a second.
"What do you mean?"
Peeta licked his lips, "Do they really need me for the rebellion? I can be in the capitol, to try to sway people to our side, the rebellion needs you, not me."
"You're an idiot." She told him frankly, "Where would I be without you? I would be dead, that's where. No I'm afraid none of us has the option of tapping out."
He smiled, the skin around his eyes did not move. She could tell that he did not believe her. She let go of his hand, and poked him hard in the chest, "no more thoughts like that."
He smiled, this time the skin did move. She smiled back, but quickly grew embarrassed at their proximity. Her fingers rested on his chest, and she had leaned forwards as she spoke; she could see every detail of his face clearly. He was so handsome.
She drew back, and placed her hand in her lap. Heat settled in her cheeks and she knew that she was blushing. She peeked over at Peeta, he was looking at the paper in his hands. Maybe he did not notice, that would be best. She looked closer, there was a tinge of red on his cheeks.
"What do we do?" he asked.
"We have to change it," this was obvious to her.
"We can't, Haymitch's orders." Peeta shook his head firmly.
"Screw Haymitch, there is no way you're saying this." She could not believe that he even considered it.
"Then what?"
"You have to make a new one, with equal amount of drawl about the capitol, but without angering the districts."
"I'm not sure that's possible" he said, dubious.
"You can do it, you have to." It was simple, at least in her eyes.
They spent the next two hours working on his speech, but did not get far, he was right, it was difficult. Then he went back to bed, he told her to do the same thing, and she actually felt tired for a change. She went to bed, and fell asleep quickly.
She woke up on the floor, drenched in sweat.
She walked over to the dining table, the shower had helped, but she still felt drowsy due to lack of sleep.
"Good morning," she said absentmindedly to Haymitch and Effie, who were already seated at the table.
"Good morning to you too sunshine." Haymitch said, entirely too cheerful; he was probably drunk already.
"Finally," Effie said. "I hope you are prepared today, this is a very important district. You need to be on your best behaviour." She stressed the word need.
Katniss wanted to glare at her, but she was really too tired to bother. She grabbed a glass and filled it with water, she took a few sips; it helped a little bit.
Peeta walked in, he had dark circles under his eyes, and looked half dead. He did not look like he had slept at all. He sat down beside her, she filled up his glass with water. They did not speak during breakfast; instead they listened to Haymitch and Effie bicker. Katniss ate a piece of bread, she was going to hear it from Prim when she got back, but she could not help it, her stomach seemed to revolt whenever she brought food towards her mouth.
Peeta ate healthily, which she took as a good sign, maybe he had worked something out, or he could just be hungry. After breakfast they met with the prep team, Cinna was not there. He was busy in the capitol. This only caused her to dislike the other stylist even more, they were such lacklustre substitutes.
The market square was too far away to walk, so they went by car. Three big, black cars came to pick them up, they were similar to the ones the peacekeepers used in twelve. She got in the second car with Peeta, Haymitch and Effie was in the car behind them.
The road was old, and full of holes; the driver had to drive zigzag to avoid them.
"Did you get it done?" She whispered, they sat alone in the backseat. The guard in the front seat kept shooting glances back at them.
"Yes," he whispered back.
She gazed out the window, like in the previous districts, there was no one walking the streets. The streets were bare, and grey, there was hardly any vegetation anywhere. Even more than the districts before it, district eight lacked life.
They arrived at the scene, and like in the other districts, they walked in the backdoor. Avoiding any contact with the people. Soon she and Peeta stood hand in hand, and faced the door which she knew would lead to the stage. The door opened, light flooded through, blinding her.
They walked out, her mouth stretched, and formed a smile. Peeta had told her that the smile was not for the crowd, it was for the people in the capitol, who watched this on their television screens. So she smiled, and she knew that Peeta did the same beside her.
She walked up to the microphone, her speech was short. She tried to employ some of the techniques Peeta had taught her, but knew that no one in the crowd bought it.
Then it was Peeta's turn to speak. He walked over to the microphone slowly, and took it off the stand it was attached to. He held it up to his mouth, and started to speak.
"It is a great honour to be here, the clothes made here are legendary by their quality." He took a deep breath, "I am sorry!-" he said, and let the words hang in the air.
"-for wearing something not made from here. The next time I come I will be sure to amend that.
I am thankful to Panem for giving me the opportunity, through the Hunger games, for me to see this place, and meet the lovely people living here. I will keep you all in my heart, and pray for your safety. You should be proud of your tributes, they fought like true champions. "He stopped speaking, and placed the microphone back on its stand.
Peeta stepped back a few feet, Katniss moved closer to stand next to him, he reached around her with one arm and held her to him. She put one arm around his shoulders, they waved. The response from the crowd was silence.
They stayed like that for a few breaths, then they went back into the house. Katniss did not relax until she heard the door click shut behind them, then she finally allowed her smile to drop.
Haymitch grinned at them, and clapped slowly as they walked over, "you handled that very well."
Effie's response, on the other hand, was more reserved, she smiled, her lips a thin line. Katniss narrowed her eyes at her, was she on their side or the capitol's?
"That was marvellous! I think our job here is done, let us go back to the train." Effie said.
"Hold on a minute, there is someone who has asked to meet our tributes." Haymitch said.
"I don't think that's appro-"
"It's the mayor, I don't think we have the luxury to decline." Haymitch said.
Effie did not look happy, but did not protest as Peeta and Katniss was led away. They walked through a corridor, then up some stairs. The peacekeepers that led them stopped outside a door. This door was larger than the ones surrounding it, making it evident that this was the most important room in the house. As they approached they heard someone call out from the inside.
"Please enter." It was a woman's voice.
Katniss looked at Peeta, he nodded at her, she took his hand and they entered together. They needed to show a collected front.
It was a large room, the floor was covered by carpets. She studied the walls, what she saw made her stomach turn, and caused her to want to flee immediately; the wall was covered by pictures, moving pictures of past tributes. She looked around for anyone she recognized, she did not find either of the two from the 74th Hunger games, but she recognized several others. Victors, of previous games.
It sickened her, and from the pressure she felt from Peeta's hand, he felt the same way.
"You can stop that now," the woman said, and pointed toward their intertwined hands. "There are no cameras in here." Neither of them let go, instead she fastened her grip, this woman was dangerous.
"My name is Paylor, I am the leader of this district. It is a pleasure to meet you." She said, and smiled. She had dark skin, and even darker hair, which reached just below her shoulders.
"I'm Peeta Mellark, and this is Katniss Everdeen." Peeta introduced them, he was smiling, his teeth shone brightly.
"I know." Paylor was looking only at Peeta, Katniss felt invisible.
"Did you write your own speech?" Paylor asked.
"No-"Katniss blurted out,"-the capitol made it."
Paylor was not looking at her, "and you? Did the capitol make yours as well?"
"Yes," he lied.
"All of it?" Paylor pressed on.
Peeta hesitated, which was enough for Paylor. "I thought so, it was good, I am impressed. We are going to need that in the future."
"Need what?" Katniss snapped, she was tired of being ignored.
For the first time since entering, Paylor directed all her attention towards Katniss. "I think you know the answer to that." She looked between Katniss and Peeta a few times, then laughed, her laugh sounded oddly similar to Haymitch's. "You may leave, I have kept you long enough."
"Thank you, it was a pleasure." Peeta said. Katniss left quickly, and dragged Peeta with her.
There was no peacekeepers stationed outside the door.
"What was that all about?" Katniss whispered, she let go of his hand, and there was an unmistakable edge to her words.
"She is on our side," Peeta answered.
"How do you know?"
"I don't, it was just something about the way she spoke."
Katniss was not so sure, Peeta had good instincts when it came to people, but he did not have the same experiences as she had. She often dealt with liars and thieves, and Paylor gave her the same impression.
They met with Haymitch and Effie outside the house.
"So?" Haymitch inquired.
Katniss glared at him, she wondered what his plan was, and why he had sent them to her.
"I am sure she was lovely, such an honour, to be personally requested by a mayor, and by one as famous as her." Effie answered for them.
"Yes, she was lovely." Katniss muttered, she walked past them and stepped into one of the waiting cars. Soon Peeta came in after here, they spent the trip in silence, she was not in the mood to talk.
The rest of the evening, they sat in the dining area, Peeta drew, when asked he refused to tell them of what, and all her efforts to peek had proved ineffective.
She went to sleep still thinking about the Hunger games, and the inevitable conflict ahead of them.
She woke up to a scream, she tried to jump up but there were hands holding her down.
"Katniss, stop-" She could not make out all the words. She kicked out, her foot connected and the hands keeping her down let up. She jumped to the side, and landed off the bed, she got up in a fighting stance.
For the first time she got a good look of her attacker, it was Peeta. She was confused, why would he attack her?
"Katniss, relax. You were having a nightmare." He was massaging his chest gingerly, her foot had hit him there, just above his heart. She looked around, they were alone in the room, and the door was wide open. Her heart was still pumping furiously in her chest, she lowered her fists. It had been her, she had been the one who screamed. She could feel her cheeks heat up, she had not wanted him to see her like this.
"I have them too," Peeta said softly, "the nightmares; almost every night."
She climbed back into bed, and covered her feet with the blanket. She looked at him, he had yet to move from his position, and he was sitting at the edge of her bed.
"Can I stay?" he asked quietly. She could see that his body was shaking slightly, and suddenly it made sense to her, he had woken from a nightmare, and had probably taken to walk the train when he heard her.
She nodded, no longer embarrassed. Her brain wanted her to say no, but she could not, she was too tired.
He crawled up beside her, and laid down on her right. He wriggled under the blanket, and was still.
Even at this distance, she felt the heat radiate off him. For the first time since the start of the victory tour, she slept through the night.